Making adjustments to a STYLE

[Hugh-AR]

First, listen to this piece (Away In A Manger) and take particular note of the simplicity of the STYLE being used.
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https://app.box.com/s/g96p9ihxsnltj80avjlcgfkthzbeabfd

I have played this on my Yamaha AR80 organ, but ny comments below apply to all Yamaha organs and keyboards. Although my AR80 organ is 25 years old, the way you can play about with STYLES is no different to what you can do with a STYLE on a modern Yamaha keyboard (eg. the Tyros 4, which I have).

A STYLE is made up of PARTS .. Rhythm 1; Rhythm 2; Bass; Chord 1; Chord 2; Pad; Phrase 1; & Phrase 2. You can have any of these PARTS either ON or OFF; you can change the VOICE being used in the Style PART to something different; and you can DELETE any PART and replace it with a part of your own (you play the notes you want to hear, based on the scale of C).

The 'default' AR80 STYLE I used for Away In A Manger was Slow Waltz from TRADITIONAL. Having the Style playing with all its 'parts' was just too much. I wanted something quieter, and more subtle. So I turned to OFF Chord 2, Pad and Phrase 1. This left Chord 1 playing a Brite Piano and Phrase 2 playing a Steel Guitar. It was that Brite Piano thumping out the Waltz beat that I didn't want to hear. So I DELETED the Chord 1 PART and replaced it with ...

First, I changed the VOICE to Steel Guitar (so it was the same as Phrase 2). Then played the notes I wanted to hear as a 'pattern'. The individual notes I have played are:

/ C G E G E G / C G E G E G / C G E G E G / C G E G E G /

.. and I have SAVED my STYLE with this in CHORD 1, the other PARTS remaining the same.

Below is a DEMO so you can listen to what I have done. The DEMO is 4 bars of three beats in a bar for each step.

1. The 'default' Slow Waltz STYLE 'as is' with all the PARTS playing.
2. The 'default' Slow Waltz STYLE with Chord 2, Pad & Phrase 1 turned to OFF. Just listen to that Brite Piano in Chord 1 thumping out that Waltz rhythm.
3. The 'pattern' of notes I played with the Steel Guitar VOICE to replace what was in Chord 1.
4. The final STYLE I actually used, with the PARTS Rhythm 1; Rhythm 2; Chord 1; & Phrase 2 turned to ON. (I played the Bass on the pedals, so had the Auto-Bass on OFF as well.) Listen to how well Chord 1 and Phrase 2 blend together when they have the same allocated VOICE.

Click the below to listen.
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Away Manger Style DEMO

Hugh

[Ron]

Hugh
Another fine article. I have often thought of improving styles or even making new ones for a tune where no style is available.
However, life is too short unfortunately.

Ron